My position at work was converted to a 10 month position with the months of June and July off. I was super excited to have all this time at home with my children, engage in all kids of fabulous activities and blog our way through our summer adventures. But I was too busy being present to blog….

So here I am, at the end of summer, looking into another academic year and wondering where I go from here.

Recently we lost one of our cats, Bart. When we got married, we had five cats and a turtle and now we are left with just two cats. There have been some sad times in our family. Each pet death comes with a whole host of emotions, and when there are kids involved, it becomes especially painful to try and answer their questions while processing our own sadness.

Learning about death

But the death of a pet, especially when the pet dies at home, can be such a powerful “teachable moment”. Everyone needs to learn about death. We do not try and hide the pet from the kids, but we have given them the opportunity to see him, say goodbye to him. For this time around, it was much harder for dad, so I tried to step in and answer as many questions as I could for the kids.

So many questions about what it means to be alive and what it means to be dead. We have been able to bury pets in the back yard, which I think really helps our kids to connect with what it means to return to the earth and to what cemeteries for people are all about.
I also talked to cremation because that is our choice for this cat since the ground is solid frozen still.

I spoke to both kids about the sadness that Daddy was feeling. Connor asked if he could draw Daddy some pictures, and while some of the pictures were clearly about making Daddy feel better.

There were also a few that were Connor thinking about what was happening to the cat. Both kids continue to ask lots of questions about the pets we have lost. There are lots of pictures of them around and we will visit the spot in our backyard where Bart will be buried this summer.

Some books I keep tucked away on the grown ups bookshelves for learning about death…

I was super excited to receive a jar of Reese’s Peanut Butter Spread from Influenster! Despite my first inclination to eat the entire jar with a spoon, I restrained myself and shared with my kiddos.

Connor my picky eater, regularly requires lunch from home while in school. We review the weekly school lunch calendar and I do encourage him to try things I think he might like, often times I know that he will just refuse and spend the day in school hungry. Sending him peanut better and jelly sandwiches in his lunchbox has become our staple. It is hard to find things that a kindergarten can eat that 1) he can open by himself, 2) doesn’t require refrigeration or 3) doesn’t need to be heated.

A Reese’s Peanut Butter Spread and strawberry jam sandwich was the perfect twist on the classic! It gave me an opportunity to give him something a little special in his lunch. He gave it RAVE reviews!

One cold snowy day I also made grilled Reese’s Peanut Butter Spread and banana sandwiches for Amelia and I. Fortunately she couldn’t finish hers (and this Mama got a few extra bites)! Super yummy but oh how decadent…. with the right bread, this could be dessert!

After poking around the internet I ran across all these “Word of the Year” posts for 2015. It seemed like a good fit for me this year. Last year I decided not to have resolutions, but thought that “goals” seemed like a good idea. After reflecting on the goals I had set for 2014, I realized that those goals truly had no end. There is no point in the calendar year when I can say, yes, I have accomplished “Being a more patient Mama”. 2014 was an interesting year for our family, for our careers for our roles as parents. We have taken on so very many challenges and I think we are better for it all.

Generally I take the first ten days of the year to sort out this resolution/goal bit in my head. Since my birthday is also in January, I associate that date more with the beginning of a new year than the beginning of the calendar year. After trying out several different ideas, I finally settled on a phrase that fit me and the goals I have as a working mama: Be Present

Be present at home
Focus on the immediate needs of my children and spend more quality time with them.

Be present with my husband
Enjoy where we are right now instead of always focusing on the next thing.

Be present in my career
Focus on work, at work, not thinking about home at work or work at home!

Okay, maybe I have one small goal too. Making our beds every day. Obviously the weekdays are the hardest times, but I have enlisted Connor to help me. I usually make our beds right as we are going to bed at night, but a nicely made bed just looks so much better. We will be engaging in some bed making lessons this weekend!

Our Elf on the Shelf continues to bring excitement to Connor and Amelia every morning. He is certainly taking full advantage of the Christmas decorations now that there are more up around the house. Some of these have definitely become perennial favorites!

One morning our Elf on the Shelf hid way up high, on the curtain rod with the snowflake garland in the dark dining room. Even Mama couldn’t find him!

I was a little nervous when Alfie started hanging out with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, because I was worried Connor might think his toys come alive at night – which would put him over the edge. But Connor understood that our Elf on the Shelf was just playing with the toys!